


Stop it!

by jackboys



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Gen, Jilytober 2020, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Mutual Pining, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26733718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackboys/pseuds/jackboys
Summary: You drive a massive SUV and steal my parking spot all the time and I was heading out to leave a strongly worded note under your windshield wiper but oh no you’re hot
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 7
Kudos: 20





	1. This Is a Letter for You

It was the fourth time this week. The fourthtime. 

Lily was frustrated, as one might be when it is the fourth time someone takes your parking spot in a week.

She reverses into the parking spot she had found after much searching, pulls the parking brake into place and sits for a moment. Lily then looks to her right and glares at the massive and clearly expensive SUV parked (terribly, in her opinion. It wasn’t even parked straight!) in herdesignated parking spot. 

Just because it didn’t say _“Reserved for Lily Evans”_ does not mean it is not her parking spot. It _is_ her parking spot.

All while taking a deep breath, Lily unbuckles her seatbelt and steps out of her car, pointedly avoiding looking at the other one. It only made her angrier.

She swings her bag over her shoulder and begins to walk towards the back door of the university coffee shop she worked at and tugs it open, muttering extremely vulgar curses under her breath.

“Christ, Lily,” a familiar voice interrupted her crude thoughts and Lily abruptly looks up.

“Hey,” Lily grins, adapting a more sheepish manner. “Sorry. Bad start to my morning.”

Marlene cocks her head to the side. “He stole your spot again?” Her tone had suddenly become much more annoyed, but there was a ghost of a smile on her face.

“Fourth time this week,” grumbles Lily as she tied her apron around herself. She hangs her bag up on the hooks of the door and strides over towards the teapot, pouring herself a cup.

“You should leave him a letter.” Marlene grabs the pot from Lily’s hand, nearly scalding her with the hot liquid. Lily snatches her hand away before any damage could be done.

“A letter?”

“Sure. Just a note- really show him who’s boss.”

Lily sets the mug down for a moment, watching Marlene steam milk with one hand and put a cookie into the microwave with another.

The red haired girl shakes her head. “How have we not gotten fired yet?” 

“Focus!” Marlene snaps. She grabs a piece of paper and a pen from under the cash, and pushes it towards her. “A note would be perfect. Tell him he’s being a prick and it’s unappreciated, and that’s the end of that. Start writing.” 

_Dear Mr Dark Grey SUV,_

_First and foremost, I do not like your car. It is far too big for London’s tight streets and you take up far too much space (for the record, I prefer BMWs)._

“You’re pushing it.”

Lily waves her away.

 _Secondly- you are_ always _in my parking spot! What’s up with that?_

“You aren’t supposed to ask him whyhe’s _in_ your parking spot, you’re supposed to tell him to get _out_ of it!”

_It’s the fourth time this week and I always end up having to go into the underground parking down the street, and I have a job and responsibilities to attend to, and your thieving is getting in the way of it._

“Lily, you come to work hungover three times a week on a good week.”

“You said to write a letter.”

“An _honest_ one.”

_Anyways, please find a new parking spot before I drive directly into your car._

_With the utmost sincerity,_

_Lily J. Evans_

“All right. Go on then,” Marlene says impatiently. “Put it underneath his windshield.”

Not needing to be told twice, Lily pushes open the heavy door and marches right on over towards the front of the car, and sticks it underneath the windshield.

Somehow the car honks on it’s own accord.

Lily screams.

Composing herself quickly, she looks towards the car’s front window, and was thoroughly disappointed to see that it was not an ugly, middle-aged man, but instead a very, _very_ attractive boy who seemed to be her age.

He seemed like he had a thin build, but still nicely built (you could tell by his shoulders and arms), and much darker, olive toned skin that Lily would never be able to achieve no matter how long she sat outside, and a small pointed nose that had glasses perched upon them. She could not quite see his eyes but was sure they were beautiful and probably blue or brown or green and perfect and everything she ever wanted in a boy. 

All composure Lily had regained a moment ago was gone.

The boy now had a small smile etched on his face.

“You alright?” He asks, and sticks his head out of the window he had rolled down.

“Yes,” she simply gapes. “ _Yes_. I’m alright.”

“You look quite out of it,” he was clearly unconvinced. 

“No. No, no. I’m great, actually, and I have something for you,” Lily clears her throat, hoping that somehow some incredible wave of confidence would wash over her and the perfect eyes that she had predicted he would have (they turned out to be hazel) would not affect her as much as they were in this moment. “It’s a letter.” 

She walks over to his window and hands it to him, and hopes that he would not notice that her hand was shaking.

The boy raises his eyebrows. “For me?”

“No, for me,” Lily was thankful that he had asked a dumb question, because it gave her a slight vote of confidence. “Yes, for you.”

He takes it, cautiously as if it were a bomb, and begins to read it. He stopped every so often, like Marlene, to comment.

“My name is James, not _Mr Dark SUV._ ”

“Please continue reading.” 

“BMWs require too much maintenance. And also, even if this is your parking spot- which by the way, does not seem to have your name on it- I’m going to continue parking here because I lik-”

Lily cuts him off there before he could infuriate her further, because frankly all she wanted to do was kiss him. Self control! Self restraint! Willpower! Abstention!

“Please continue reading, _James._ ”

“Right, okay.”

Lily fiddles with the bracelet on her wrist. Then she fiddles with the hem of her top. She almost began to fiddle with her car keys but was interrupted.

“Quit _fidgeting_ ,” says James, amused. Lily glares at him, but stops anyway.

“Are you finished reading?” Lily asks impatiently, and peers into the car.

“Yes,” James says, and he folds the letter neatly into a square and presses it firmly back into her hand. “I actually quite enjoyed it.”

“And that is all you have to say?”

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is kind of a prologue but im just trying to figure out what I wanna do with this fic.... I love lily and James so hopefully you guys like my version of them.. this is also my first fic that ive ever posted so go easy on me lol !!


	2. Euphemia Would Be Disappointed, He Thinks

The next day, James was not parked in Lily’s spot.

Lily was torn, of course. She was supposed to be thankful that _finally_ , her parking spot was available, but for some reason she was curious as to where James was.

Where was he parked? Is he not going to wherever he would usually go when he’d park in her spot? Is he okay? Will she ever see him again? Will she get to make out with him?

_Holy fuck._

Lily leans back onto the headrest of her car and then slams her head onto her steering wheel. 

Fuck. That hurt. 

_Of course it hurt, you fucking bint. You absolutely deserve it. Your vagina is in your brain for some reason, and you write this boy a strongly worded letter to get him out of your spot and all of a sudden you’re thinking about if he’d like to make out with you._ Lily curses herself as she grabs her purse angrily, turns off her car angrily, and opens the door angrily. 

She slams the door and locks it as aggressively as possible (How aggressively can you push a button? Lily was not sure, but she tries her hardest out of utter anger directed towards her vagina).

“Have you ever considered xanax?” 

Those were not Lily’s thoughts. 

She spun around, and gaped at the boy in front of her.

“Hello,” Lily says. “No, I’ve never given it much thought.”

“Interesting.” James muses. “Hi, Lily.”

“How did you- _Why_ are you here?” Lily feels her cheeks flush slightly, and decides on taking the defensive approach, despite being sure that he was a sweet boy and she would most definitely raise a child with him.

Second interaction. _Second_ fuckinginteraction.

Pathetic.

“I just got here,” he says, gesturing to the large car parked next to hers. “And I study here, normally. On a good day. A good day being a day where I can easily find a parking spot.” 

He doesn’t stutter, she notices right away. The words flow naturally for him, and Lily wanted to ask how he does that, but realizes quickly she has other questions that seem far more important.

“Study? Here?” she questions, leaning against her car (for support. She would have fallen over otherwise, she is sure of it).

He smiles, all teeth, and Lily thinks his smile is very beautiful and radiant and she would like to see it all the time. “Yeah, here.”

Lily stares. “You go to university here?”

“ _Yeah,_ here,” he repeats.

“Oh.”

“Do you go here?”

“Yes. I work at the coffee shop here, so yes.”

“Okay.”

Lily was utterly distraught. “Why have I never seen you?”

James isn’t sure, because why would he know the answer to that, of course, but she still asks.

“I’m not sure,” he says exactly what she thinks he would say, but he grins. “But I think I’d like to see more of you, if that’s okay.”

Lily decided that she wanted to remember this moment forever.

“Er- yes. I mean- I’m not sure as to why you’d want that, considering our first interaction was not..” Lily drifted off, racking her brain for the word.

“Pleasant?” James suggested.

“Yes,” she agrees. “Pleasant.”

He looks at her, his lovely hazel eyes staring down at her stupid, normal face.

Lily opens her mouth to speak and shuts it promptly, and James raises an eyebrow.

“I- I’ve ought to go into work, it’s almost ten, but-” she pauses, unsure of what might come out of her mouth next, but for some horrifying reason, she could not stop talking. “But I’d like it if you came by after my shift ends. If you’d like. There’s no pressure, of course, I just- I just thought maybe it would be cool.”

Lily wanted to die.

Maybe it would be cool.

_Maybe it would be cool._

She was absolutely not cool.

She was awkward today. And she was standing weirdly, and she was sure that her voice sounded nasally and similar to her elder sister’s voice (When Petunia would screech something along the lines of “Lily do _not_ ever ignore my phone calls ever again” Lily quite thought she sounded like a curlew.. or maybe an ostrich? An ostrich doessuit Petunia well). 

“Yes. Yeah, absolutely,” James says eagerly, and this was the first time he was showing a more child-like persona, and Lily undeniably adored it. He seemed so boyish, so good with his words and slick about everything. It was intimidating. “I’d love to.”

“Okay,” says Lily. “I get off work at six, so you can maybe come by around then- and we can figure it out from there?”

He has this smile plastered on his face, he would not stop _smiling_ and Lily was excited for six o’clock, she decided.

“A date! He takes your parking spot, and you write a passive aggressive note and what, he decides he’s in love with your attitude?” Marlene was verklempt. “And now you’re prancing out of here and going on a date! I still cannot believe this!” 

“Not a date,” corrects Lily. “I want to- you know- get to know him.”

Marlene scoffs. “That’s what you do on _dates,_ Lily.” 

“Yes, well. It happens, you know.”

“I don’t know how you do it. But I don’t hate the idea, honestly,” the blonde admits. “It’s quite romantic. You meet in such an irritating way but all of a sudden you’re both gorgeous and interested- couldn’t ask for more, really.”

Lily drizzles caramel sauce into a cup. “I know.”

“He’s definitely rich, too,” Marlene continues. “I mean, the car was gorgeous.”

“That doesn’t even matter!” Lily interrupts tactfully, topping the drink she was making with whipped cream and placing a lid on the cup, sealing it tightly. “I think- I think he’s so.. There’s just.. such a _thing._ There’s a _thing_ about him that makes him so interesting!”

Lily turns to the drive through window and hands the drink to a young teenage girl smiling brightly at her. “Have a good day!” Lily’s false cheery customer service voice checks in for a moment, and is lost the moment the girl drives away.

“It’s almost six,” points out Marlene.

Lily looks at the clock. Five fifty three. 

The nervous jitters- the ones that show up in your stomach the hour before your first boyfriend at sixteen is coming to pick you up- were appearing in Lily’s stomach. 

“Excellent,” mutters Lily, and she reaches for the bottle of disinfectant spray from underneath the counter, and begins to spray it furiously on every surface possible.

“That is a lovely attempt at busying yourself.” Marlene says, noticeably amused by Lily’s panic. “You’re going to be fine, you know. You’re confident- guys practically fall at your feet hoping for a second glance. You’re fine.”

“Oh, Marlene, stop it,” Lily shakes her head. “Why does it feel, like, different this time? Like, I feel like I just can’t mess this up, and if I do, I will literally regret it for my whole life.” 

Lily is rambling, and is in a state of hysteria, and is also frantically scrubbing the counters. 

“You sound like a- what are they called?”

“No clue, Mar.”

“A valley girl!” Marlene snaps her fingers excitedly. “Yes. A valley girl. I have never heard you use _like_ or _literally_ as a filler word. It’s quite refreshing.”

“ _Marlene,_ ” Lily says reproachfully, looking at the clock again.

Five fifty six. How has it been _only_ three minutes?

“It’s fine, Lily. Have some tea.”

“Yes, tea is lovely.” A new voice has joined them. “Especially from this coffee shop.”

Lily stopped scrubbing immediately, looking up.

“Hi,” she breathes.

“Hey,” he replies, and James smiles at her in a way that she would like for him to smile at her forever.

Lily wanted to make it _easy-_ she wanted witty conversation and relaxed moments, and she did not want to pull herself in so deep so fast, but he made that so _hard._ He had taken over her mind for the last twenty four hours and she was not entirely sure why. He was _interesting_. 

“Er- I’m almost done, I need to grab my things and clock out,” Lily gathered herself and had quickly decided that she would portray herself as the funny, independent woman she was (despite how lovely and pretty James really was), and beamed at him (charmingly, of course).

“Yeah, of course,” he smiles widely, in an assuring sort of way that made Lily feel less pressured. “Take your time.”

But Lily does not need time. Quickly, but not so quickly so that James can tell that she is being quick, she heads into the back room and picks up her things from her locker. She clocks out fairly speedily as well, and she realizes how embarrassing this could potentially be.

Lily needs a pep talk.

From herself.

 _Take your time,_ he says, _No rush!_ Well now, Lily needs at least thirty minutes to restore herself into that hilarious, utterly delightful and endearing Lily Evans that she truly is. 

As she looked into the mirror next to all the lockers, the panicking redhead (who was undeniably becoming more red as each second passed) took a deep breath and was about to begin her positively lengthy speech, and she was rudely interrupted.

Marlene had (somehow) shown up in the back room, and was tutting at Lily endearingly.

“Get over yourself, Lily,” groans Marlene. “You are going to be fine, and I assure you, you do not need a thirty minute speech from yourself. _Go._ ”

Lily huffs. “It was not going to be thirty minutes.”

“Thirty five, then. Just _go._ ”

Lily knew she was being stupid, and she knew that James was waiting, and she knew she could not _keep_ James waiting, because that is terrible.

So she went, and James looked very pleased. 

“Hi,” he says again, the second they stepped out of the coffee shop.

Lily grins. “Hello.”

He’s breathless, and enraptured by her prettiness, he knows it. Maybe not pretty. Stunning, more like, beautiful, too. She had such _green_ eyes. Not a lot of people have green eyes. It’s always blue, or brown. Green is so.. different. And he really likes looking at her. But he also knew it was early to be pining over someone like this- but she was so lovely (and passive aggressive), and he did not seem to care about how quickly he was moving.

“Where to?” James asks, motioning to his car. 

“I think it depends- are we taking your car?” Lily laughs.

James notices that she throws her head back when she laughs. He likes that. But only on her- when Sirius does that, it looks awfully stupid. 

“Yes, the devil himself,” James grimaces, but the look merges into a taunting grin.

“He’s lovely,” says Lily, walking around to the passenger side of the large car, getting in.

“He is,” agrees James, and he gets into the car as well, and sits for a moment.

“Have you named him?” asks Lily.

“Named him?”

“Yes.”

Naming a car. It seemed odd- that was something he’s never done before- but he would name his car, if that’s what Lily wanted, he decided.

“No,” he says lightly. “No, I have not.” 

Lily made a face, and frowned. “Well, you must.”

“I say we discuss this over..” he trails off briefly, turns the car on, then continues. “Over dinner.”

“Dinner!” said Lily exasperatedly, her mouth twitching slightly. “I say let’s start with a casual lunch.”

James grins. Administrative and jurisdictional. Lovely.

Lovely Lily.

That was disgusting.

That was never to be thought of again.

_Lovely Lily. Pathetic._

“Casual lunch is good.” James says. “I’m perfectly okay with a casual lunch.”

“I’m glad. I know a fantastic lunch place- just around the corner, it’s really great. Do you like Italian?” Lily feels herself getting considerably more comfortable and excited as James reverses out of the parking spot and starts to drive.

“I do like Italian food, yes,” James looks at her briefly (simply because he wanted to look at her very pretty face again) and allows a small smile to creep up onto his face.

“Excellent,” says Lily, satisfied and pointedly refuses to look at him despite feeling his stare burning into her. “Do you drive in silence, normally?” 

James tore his eyes away from her and shakes his head, laughing. “No, Lily Evans, I do not.”

“Well, what do you listen to?” Lily wanted to know. 

James thinks he can feel his face stretching considerably. His mother will be disappointed to see all the smile lines he’d have developed after spending one day with Lily Evans.


End file.
